Weekly Book Round Up #10

18 October 2013

I can only blame the husband for dragging me into this. He read the books, and then got me into the TV series, and now I've decided to start reading this series of massive books. Having said that, I really enjoyed this book. I loved following all of the different characters stories, and I loved the more in-depth story that you just don't get with the TV series. In places I found it to be quite similar to Tolkien in that there is obviously a lot of history that isn't fully explained or explored, but its definitely there. Perhaps all will be revealed in a spin off-type thing. Although looking at the release dates for the next books in series, it'll be a long time coming. For those who haven't read/heard of/seen Game of Thrones before, it follows different families (houses) and individuals as they try to grab for more power, or retain their hold on it. It's really quite difficult to describe, but if fantasy is your bag, then you should have read this already. I can't wait to get started on the next one!

Nicola's rating: 5/5

I believe this is the last of the Fairwick Chronicles trilogy. This follows Callie (the gatekeeper) as she tries to fight the nephilim out of Fairwick by travelling back to Scotland in the 17th century to find the angel stone. She is also struggling to deal with the loss of her incubus lover. In a way this reminded me of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series (well worth a read, by the way), except on a much smaller scale and involving fairies and demons. I've found this series to be a bit of fun, the books aren't particularly well written, but since discovering these I have gotten into some of Carol Goodman's other books. If you're looking for a bit of escapism, then this should do the trick. Also, this was very seasonally appropriate, which I always appreciate.

Nicola's rating: 3/5

Well. Gillian Flynn has managed to disturb me yet again. This story follows Libby Day, whose mother and two younger sisters were murdered when she was a child. Her older brother was convicted for the crime and is in jail for life. BUT DID HE DO IT?! I had so many different ideas over who I'd thought did the deed, and I was wrong on all counts. Gillian Flynn certainly knows how to keep a reader guessing. Again, I'd recommend this to anyone who loves crime/thrillers, but this is really not for the faint hearted. We're talking ritualistic cattle slaughter and the murders of a woman and two small children. It's pretty grim. I had to really struggle with what to rate it, as I was really grossed out and disgusted, but also couldn't stop reading because I wanted to know what really happened. In the end I settled on a four star rating, as I couldn't fault her story telling, but just felt a bit too icked to give a five!